Basal Body Temperature and Pregnancy

Body temperature varies throughout different parts of a woman’s cycle. During the first couple of weeks of it, her temperature should be a bit lower than at other times. For example, it should be somewhere around 97-97.5 degrees. During ovulation, her body temperature should go up between .4 and .6 degrees.

When she is pregnant, her body temperature will remain slightly higher than usual in this manner for the rest of the term. A drop in body temperature after ovulation can be indicative of a woman not having conceived.

The easiest and most accurate way to monitor these changes is to monitor your resting temperature, also known as your basal body temperature. It should be taken after being at rest for at least four hours; preferably first thing in the morning before you get up and move around.

Taking your basal body temperature after physical activity of any kind can cause you to have inaccurate results – this includes getting up to go to the bathroom.

Keeping track of your basal body temperature for several months or longer can help you get used to what changes are normal; this way when a change indicative of pregnancy happens, you will recognize it easily.  

Other Early Pregnancy Signs

• Fatigue with no obvious explanation
• Food aversions or cravings
• Tender, swollen, achy breasts
• A change in nipple color
• Mood swings, being overly emotional with no obvious reason
• Persistent nausea with or without vomiting, particularly in the morning when there is nothing on your stomach
• Increased and more frequent urination
• Constipation
• Dizziness and/or feeling lightheaded
• Cramping and/or Slight bleeding (implantation bleeding) that happens even when it is not time for your period
• Late or missed period

If you have been keeping track of your basal body temperature and you happen to notice a return to the 97-97.5 degree range after your ovulation period is over, please do not be immediately discouraged on your quest to conceive. You could simply be taking your temperature inaccurately. Of course, you may not be pregnant, after all. If this is the case, simply be patient and keep trying!

Make sure you do not take a home pregnancy test too soon, though, in your eagerness. You will likely not receive an accurate result until at least five days before your period is usually supposed to start, if not closer to when your period is due.

When attempting to conceive it is important to not be too terribly stressed over all of the details, even if you have decided to keep diligent track of them.

Being overly stressed cannot only reduce your sex drive (which is, so to say, necessary for the process), but it can make it harder for you to get pregnant. Try to take a deep breath, step back, and resolve yourself to try again next month.